Jonny_H

Glad all is relatively unscathed with exception to the shed!  As others have said it could have been an awful lot worse!

Not quite sure what is going on with the weather forecasts at the moment, however they seem to be way out when it comes to wind speed.  Last week we had 45-50mph winds (allegedly) and luckily didn't really experience anything other than our green bin got blown over.  Today we had 30-35mph winds (again...allegedly) and my exterior table (which I struggle to move on my own) got completely blown off my patio and onto the lawn (a distance of circa 4ft from where it usually sits to where it ended up).  A little stronger than 35mph me thinks!!

I'm not sure ZWO have a service center in the UK.

I don't know where you purchased this but you could ask FLO if they could help you. They have assisted me with purchasing spare parts from China for a few things (obviously at a cost). Else you could try emailing ZWO directly and see what they say, but will likely ask you to return it to them for repair.

Final Else, try to find someone who likes to tinker with things, buy them a beer or a glass of wine for the trouble and hope for the best!

Fantastic capture and hats off to the commitment!

Trying to figure out roughly how long it would have taken me to capture 150 hours of imaging here in the UK (when the weather permitted).......I reckon about 20 years!

I went through this exact scenario a number of months back and did actually sell some of my core AP kit.  I just didn't see the point anymore.

Cut to a few weeks back however and I started getting the itch again so purchased some new equipment, slightly smaller and lighter than my last which makes it less of a chore to setup (I too do not have an obsy......the wife won't let me 🫥)

Still haven't been able to really use it in anger though due to all of the issues mentioned in this thread 😆

Stick with it! 

I use my EAF with an ASIAir Plus and as mentioned above you can reverse the direction of travel.  In your example above you could type in, for example, 7000 and it will essentially move the focuser back to the 'true' 0 postion. Then you can set the current position back to 0 again and unselect the reverse option.

I think all of that makes sense.....🤔

Hi all,

As above, I have an issue with elongated stars in the top left corner of images, but it seems to impact selected filters and to varying degrees.

I have attached a few examples of subs taken last night across most filters, although stupidly I didn’t label them before downloading them onto my computer so not sure which is which immediately, however I believe the attached consists of LRGB and Ha.

I find it odd that the Ha filter seems to be ok where as the others seem to suffer from elongation at the top left.  I also noticed that I have light drop-off which doesn’t appear to be in the centre on all but the Ha image?

Could this be something out of alignment in the EFW or how the filters have screwed into the EFW?

Has anyone seen this before?
 

Any help would be appreciated.

regards,

Jonny

42 minutes ago, Richard_ said:

I've got the QHY268M camera which uses the same sensor as the ASI2600 and I use 36mm. I don't see any physical vignetting caused by the filter, just the typical light fall off from the centre of the telescope which is resolved with flats. 

Here's an example of my NGC6888 shot with 36mm Antlia H-alpha and OIII filters with minimal crop (6,100 x 4,050 pixels) to remove stacking artifacts. Remember that the native sensor size is 6,280 x 4,210 pixels. 

My filterwheel is placed directly against the camera with no spacer in between, which minimizes the impact of filter size on vignetting. 

Thanks Richard,

This is reassuring.  I'm only assuming the true underlying reason to go 2" is to future proof in case of ever going to full frame.

1 hour ago, Gary Clayton said:

Hi Jonny

I am using the Altair Astro version of the 2600MM, the Hypercam 26M.

Thanks Gary,

I made the mistake of "Googling" and there seems to be a lot of people in the "you absolutely must get 2" filters with the 2600MM" camp.  It seems to be down to apparent bad vignetting, but I'm not convinced it is that bad.

As you say a fair number of people use 36mm with no issues at all....but some of the comments have seeded a tad of doubt!

Regards,

Jonny

30 minutes ago, Gary Clayton said:

With my APS-C sensor I am using 36mm unmounted filters with on issues at all.

Thanks Gary.

I plan to use a 2600MM with the SM 90ED.  Do you use the same camera?

Regards,

Jonny

Out if interest, which sized filters is everyone using with this scope and for which camera?

Very much debating on 36mm or 2".....very conflicting info on this topic!

Regards,

Jonny

Hi all,

If one were to venture into mono AP and had a StellaMira 90ED and a 2600MM Pro (with no intention of moving to full frame) - which of the 36mm or 2" filters would be the better size to go for?

As with most things AP related, there are so many different and conflicting views out there from "36mm are absolutely fine", to "36mm produce slight vignetting" to "terrible vignetting and one must absolutely get 2" filters".

Appreciating that vignetting can be remedied by flats..... however some comments on other forums have seeded a doubt so interested to hear further thoughts on here. Also, apart from more money - are there any cons of using 2" filters over 36mm?

Thanks,

Jonny

I very recently let go of my imaging gear, largely down to other life commitments getting in the way including work and pleasure (mainly work) which won't ease off for the foreseeable. 

If I'm honest the weather definitely aided the decision. Having not had an opportunity to use the kit for the best part of the year, i came to the conclusion that it was a rather expensive ornament just sitting there. Albeit it was a lovely looking ornament

I was very close to throwing-in the towel on the whole lot but decided to keep my 8" CC, mount and eyepieces for planetary and lunar visual.

Who knows though.....I may be back for imaging in the future! 

Regards,

Jonny

Ah you see. You made the mistake of first discussing with the other halves pre-purchase......

Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission..........that is of course if your secret astronomy stash gets discovered in the first place! 🤪

I am of course joking.....and if my wife ever sees this post....its been nice knowing you all! 🤭

Is it looking through the scope the wrong way......through the objective lense?   Or is that the right way? 🤔☺️

I feel like we should turn this into a new game or something!?  A bit like Bingo but we need to find a new word to shout out when it happens.........

No expletives though....thats not allowed!

Now there's an unfortunate name for a product!

Thanks @StevieDvd

It did seem that this is the obvious path......but I wanted to double check in case I was missing a trick!

Regards,

Jonny

Hi all,

I hope everyone is well.

I am still planning my obsy build and slowly but surely purchasing the materials I need to start/complete the project. But one thing which I am still not entirely sure on, is the alignment/orientation of the pulsar pier itself when installing it. I have read a number of somewhat conflicting threads on the internet and thought I would ask on here to see what others did and how they did it.

So......is there a particular trick? The pier adapter looks like it has a screw hole for a north locating pin so assume that it is really the adapter that needs to be 'polar aligned' and you can work backwards to the pier and finally the bolt holes into the concrete to 'correctly' orientate the pier to the adaptor plate? Help 

Thanks,

Jonny

I had this issue the last time I used my set-up. Similar to you I hadn't used it for a while.

I Re-installed PHD2 and made sure all other drivers for other apps were updated and that seemed to do the trick.

Try reinstalling PHD2 first to see if that resolves the issue and go from there.

HTH,

Jonny

Thanks all for your comments.

So it's really a convenience thing over specific or recommend orientation.

I just wanted to double check before I started the build 

regards,

Jonny

Hi all,

Hoping this question is in the correct place (mods - please feel to move it to the appropriate section if not).

Anyhow, in the fear of this being a daft question....is there a particular or preferred orientation for a Pulsar dome? E.g. is there a best practice to face the door in a certain direction etc...?

in the process of planning my install so asking lots of silly questions!

Thanks,

Jonny

Me too! 😁

Lovely scope!!

8 minutes ago, ukskies said:

I hope not, she wouldn't do that to me would she?!

I certainly hope not!!

Not Christmas decorations down from the loft? 😉

I am expecting a Pulsar Pier from FLO in the next few days and with it will come the obligatory 2-3 months of cloud cover i dare say..... sorry all 😩